Gundam Seed Revolution
by cyberdemon
Summary: The peace which has lasted 500 years is being shaken by an unknown force and now the new generation needs to step up to protect the peace that so many once died for.
1. Phase 1: A New Start

Chapter 1 - A Peaceful World

The year was UC 575. It has been over 500 years since the horrifying wars that played out between the Naturals of Earth and the Coordinators of the PLANTs.

After the end of the second bloody Valentine War, peace finally spread across the Earth thanks to the efforts of Lacus Clyne, Chairman of the PLANT supreme Council, and Cagalli Yula Attha, the head representative of the island nation of ORB.

While tensions were still high following the end of the war, these two brought great change to the Earth and its orbiting space colonies. Eventually the hatred that had plagued the planet for such a long time finally started to die down and the Earth finally saw its first glimpse of peace that would last for the next 500 years.

* * *

A shuttle came to a stop at the gate of the space colony of Heliopolis. When the gate opened a large group of people came flooding out.

The last one to come out through the gate was a young man. He was 17 years old and about 5 feet 10 inches tall. He had shaggy brown hair the fell to his face. He had a magnificent pair of violet eyes that always showed such honesty in whatever he did.

Although he was already in his junior year, he was being transferred to the school by his guardian.

'If you go there, you will be able to find what you are looking for.' he remembered himself being told which had made him eager to come.

If there was one thing he hated most it was that although the earth was at peace, violence and crimes still continued. He was ultimately a result of that.

He was on a trip with his parent when a terrorist strike blew up where they were staying. Both of his parents were killed immediately. Yet for some unknown reason he, who was only 3 years old at the time, somehow managed to survive.

He didn't really remember much of the event that killed his parents. Sometimes though, if he tried hard enough, he could remember the flames that swarmed around after the attack.

Sadly he barely even remembered his parents because he was so young at the time. The only thing he had to remember them by was a few pictures. He knew even less about his family as a whole.

It was like no matter how many times he asked his guardian about his family, the answer would always be the same. "You will find out in time but it is not my place to discuss it." He was told time and time again.

'What's wrong with wanting to know about my family? Heck, he won't even let me use my own name,' he thought growing a bit annoyed.

While his name was Kira Yamato, his guardian told him to not use that name and instead go by the name of Kira Hibiki whenever he was in public.

'I don't get it. There's nothing special about my name. So why does he feel that I have to hide it?' he thought while adjusting the shoulder strap of his bag.

From what he did get from his guardian, his parents led simply lives. They weren't famous or anything. He did searches on his name but found no one of importance.

'What is he not telling me? Why all this damn secrecy?!' he groaned as he got more and more annoyed with the man who raised him.

Other than not knowing anything about himself, he somehow managed to live a somewhat normal childhood. He still had friends. He still found ways to laugh and enjoy himself. He's even had a girlfriend or 2 before then.

"Kira Hibiki?!" a man yelled from behind a crowd that was walking between the two of them. When Kira looked he saw a tall man with short brown hair that was slicked back with the exception of some bangs that fell in front of his face.

"Glad to see you made it alright," the man said after he finally managed to get through the crowd and reach the younger boy.

"My name was Andrew Waltfeld," he said sticking out his hand which Kira shook. From what Kira could remember he was an instructor at the academy that he was about to attend.

"It's nice to meet you but I'm exhausted," Kira said with a sigh as he slumped against the wall while releasing a yawn from his mouth. He did manage to get sleep on the plane but it just didn't seem to be enough.

"Yeah I hear you. Let's get going. We'll stop and get something to eat on the way to the dorms," Andrew, or Andy as he liked to be called, said while licking his lips.

"You've got to try the kebabs this one restaurant sells here. They're Delicious. But you definitely have to put yogurt sauce on it. Can't see why anyone would want to have chili sauce on it instead," he talked on as he led Kira from the spaceport and toward the car he had parked.

Kira watched him walk ahead. He couldn't help but feel though that Andrew Waltfeld gave off more of a feel of a reliable older brother than he did an instructor. It really made him wonder just what the rest of the teachers were like. Yet, as he looked at him, Kira also got the feeling that he seemed somewhat familiar.

* * *

The door to the room opened and Kira walked into a special single room in the dorms. "Pretty big," he admired as he looked around.

Directly across from the door was a window that was brightly lighting up the room. Outside he saw a vast area filled with flowers. Many students were seen gathered around, mostly couples, enjoying the beautiful day.

To the left side of the window stood a bed and across from the bed stood a desk. Many of his personal belongings had already been brought to the room and were just piled in a corner.

"Yeah. Your guardian gave you such a high recommendation and made the personal request for this room. I was surprised, that guy is never impressed with anything," Andy said scratching the back of his head.

Kira was thankful. He hated people fussing over him or just giving things to him. However he preferred his peace and quiet when it was possible.

A knock on the door interrupted the 2 of them. When Kira opened the door, a woman stood there. She had shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes as well. From Kira's perspective she looked to be in her late twenties to early thirties.

"You must be Kira Hibiki. It's nice to meet you. My name is Murrue Ramius, I'm the principal of Archangel Academy," the woman said holding her hand out to younger boy.

"Nice to meet you," Kira said putting out his hand and shaking the hand of the woman before him.

"Before you can start your classes, we will need to perform some tests to get a gauge of your abilities," she said with a smile towards Kira. "This is just to get an estimate for what level you are currently at and whether you may need extra classes to catch up to everyone else," she explained as if she had said it multiple times.

"Yes. I'll do my best!" Kira said feeling a bit of dread for the tests that were about to come.

He was smart and excelled in engineering. He was also decently fit. He wasn't worried about those.

He personally hated wielding weapons after what happened to his parents. He also dreaded the piloting tests that they would have him doing though for other reasons. Yet he knew that all the tests that he was going to do would be doing both of the things he hated.

"That's good, I like your attitude. The tests will start at 5. One of our top students volunteered to pick you up around 3. She offered to show you around the school and then bring you to where the tests will be taking place." Murrue responded giving Kira a small smile.

Murrue then turning to Andy. "I also need to have a word with you. Please see me in my office around 4," she said and Andy nodded as she left the room.

"I'll see you at the tests a little later. If you have any questions, just ask," Andy said before he too left the room.

Kira sighed when he looked at the clock that was hanging on the wall and saw that it was already noon. "Might as well try to unpack a bit." He muttered to himself as he headed towards his boxes.

* * *

At about 1:30, Kira was finishing up unpacking the last of his few boxes. "There," he said taking out the last item. The place was a bigger mess but he was glad to get everything unpacked.

Rather than deal with the mess he had created right then, he turned and stepped out of the door. He had been cooped up on a shuttle for nearly a day and he wanted to go out and walk a little.

The sky was blue and too perfectly clear. "Not quite the same as on Earth since they can control the weather however they want," he muttered to himself feeling a bit of dissatisfaction.

Kira couldn't help but notice that the number of couples he had seen earlier had only increased. He was jealous. His last girlfriend had a few screw loose and he hasn't had the fortune of having any others since then. Many of the girls at his old school were a bit intimidated by her and kept their distance even after she moved.

While his attention was turned elsewhere, Kira didn't notice the group of boys who were throwing a ball around and they too didn't notice him.

"Go long Athrun!" a blonde haired boy yelled as another started to run out. The blonde haired boy threw the football.

A blue haired boy started to run after the ball. Unfortunately he wasn't looking ahead of him.

Both of them realized too late just where the ball was thrown towards. "Athrun! Watch out!" he yelled noticing that Athrun didn't realize he was about to run into someone else.

"Huh?" the blue haired boy said as he turned his head right in time for the collision.

The two boys collided hard and were sent flying. Athrun fell straight to the concrete but Kira went flying back onto the grass.

"Damn it!" Athrun cursed as he held his throbbing head. "Why the hell were you just standing there idiot!" he screamed even though it was more his fault than it was the other guy's.

Kira groaned as he stood up. He shook his head to clear his head and looked at the other guy. "What do you mean?! You're the one who ran into me!" he yelled back with a glare.

"You were just standing there like an idiot! Of course something like that would happen!" Athrun yelled back as he pushed himself back onto.

"If you were looking where you were going, this never would have happened!" Kira yelled back angrily.

The two fell silent but they continued to glare at one another even as Athrun's friends approached the two of them.

"Take it easy Athrun, we're the ones at fault here," a green haired boy said as he approached the two arguing guys.

Athrun merely grunted and turned and started to walk away. Before that though, he took a look at Kira and couldn't help the uneasy feeling he had when he looked at him.

"I'm sorry about that. Athrun is usually a lot nicer than that. He's just been very stressed lately," the green haired boy said giving Kira a smile.

"Are you new here? I don't remember seeing you before," the green haired continued while looking over Kira quizzically. He knew a lot of people in the school but he was sure he had never seen Kira before.

"Yeah. I just got here today," Kira admitted with relief that he was more level headed than his friend.

"Then it is nice to meet you. My name is Nicol Amalfi. I'm a junior here," Nicol said holding out his hand while continuing to give a gentle smile.

"My name is Kira Hibiki. I'm also a junior," Kira responded by shaking Nicol's extended hand.

"It's nice to meet you. If you need any help, just let me know," Nicol said with a smile. "I better get back before they get impatient. I'll see you around," Nicol said as he turned and ran back to the other three.

Kira took one last look at the four of them. Kira couldn't help but notice the weary look that the one named Athrun had been giving to him but he instead decided to ignore it. Kira then turned away and started to walk away from the area.

"Who was that Nicol?" a silver haired boy asked as he watched Kira walk away with great interest.

"He's a new student. He said that his name is Kira Hibiki. He seems nice. You should try to get along with him Athrun. I have a feeling that the two of you are a lot alike," Nicol replied while looking at his best friend.

"Whatever," Athrun grunted before he threw the ball to the blonde haired boy. "I got to get going," she said as he turned and started to walk away.

The blonde haired boy smirked and whistled at Athrun. "Got a hot date with her again?" he teased the blue haired boy.

"Dearka, shut up," the silver haired boy said since he always grew agitated when this side of his friend showed up.

Dearka just smirked despite being chastised. "I'm just joking Yzak. Geez," he said with a small chuckle. "But hey, if I had a fiancée as hot as her, I'd be going on all the hot dates that I could," he continued teasingly.

"Shut up," Athrun growled annoyed. "Besides, she is busy today. Not much else I could do with her," he said hoping it would shut Dearka up. Athrun then walked away from them feeling a bit of tiredness creeping up on him. 'I have some time until later. Maybe I'll get a nap,' he thought with a yawn.

"Athrun has seemed awfully tired as of late. I wonder if he has been getting enough sleep," Nicol pondered with worry as he watched his best friend retreat.

"Probably up every night making sweet, sweet love to his honey," Dearka continued with a laugh before suddenly being punched in the stomach and collapsing to the ground.

"I told you to shut up!" Yzak growled in annoyance with his fist clenched. "Besides, who the hell cares about him," he growled angry at all the attention his rival was getting.

To him, Athrun was his eternal rival. Athrun was almost always top of the class while Yzak was always second even though he tries so hard to beat him. He was popular with many of the girls in the school even if he already had a fiancée. Sure they could be considered friends, but that didn't mean Yzak didn't want to push his face into the dirt.

"You're just jealous," Dearka said once he got his second wind since Yzak didn't put his full power in the punch. Only a second later though, he received a second, full power punch from his friend.

* * *

Looking at his watch, Kira noticed that 2:30 had come around quickly. "I better head back. I was told someone was going to show me around properly," he said to himself.

Even though he had been walking around the last hour or two by himself, he realized the campus was a lot larger than he had expected.

Political training, Military training, engineering, and the arts were just a few of the many things that they taught here. It was more akin to a university than the high school it was supposed to be. It was a place that truly trained only the best and the brightest in all categories.

This place had put out a large number of successful world leaders and was likely one of the causes for why no serious wars have broken out for so long.

Even a poor but talented person could get in with the right skills. Despite that though, those people were still in the minority which was probably the biggest flaw of the system. There were also still the rich who would find a way to buy a spot for their children.

Kira was broken from his thoughts though by the sound of music coming from the building he was next to.

The door to the building was open and a beautiful sound was coming from it. Curiosity got the better of Kira as he stepped through the doorway and followed the sounds.

From what Kira could tell, the place that he walked into with an auditorium. It had a massive stage on the far end of the room.

It was on the stage that Kira's attention was really drawn to though. There was a single woman there.

The woman was absolutely gorgeous. She had very long, flowing pink hair. Her height seemed to be pretty average. Her voice though was absolutely beautiful.

Seeing her there, Kira couldn't help but think that she was the striking image of the legendary Lacus Clyne herself. If it hadn't been several hundred years since she died, he would've thought that she was her.

A part of him felt great happiness with the sight and the sounds that he was hearing. It was soothing and made him feel relaxed.

The woman on the stage suddenly paused when she took notice of the one who had stepped into the room.

Violet met blue and the two of them stared at one another for a few seconds.

Something happened though that broke the stare. Tears suddenly started to fall down the woman's eyes. She wasn't sure what it was but she felt a great sadness within her when she laid her eyes on the man before her.

'Tears?' Kira asked himself the moment he saw what was running down her face. "A-are you OK?" he asked worried that maybe she didn't want anybody listening to her when she sang. He felt he had done something unforgiveable that made her cry.

"Huh?" the woman stuttered as she wiped the tears from her face while wondering just where they came from.

"I-I'm fine. I don't know what came over me. Maybe it was the song," she said as she tried to calm herself which she found it hard to do in this man's presence.

"Sorry, the doors were open and I just happened to hear you singing. Sorry about that," Kira tried to explain feeling like he shouldn't have been listening.

"It's not a problem," the woman said as the stepped down from the stage. "It is common sense that if I sing on a stage that I would end up having an audience," she said with a laugh as she approached the boy who was the same age as her.

When she was in front of Kira and managed to get a good look at his face. The sadness that she had been feeling suddenly started to well up again but she used all her will power to force it down. Yet at the same time she also felt a weird happiness.

"I… Is something wrong Miss?" Kira asked noticing her staring at him very intently as if she was sizing him up.

"I-It's nothing," she said with a laugh feeling a bit foolish. She knew that she had never met the man before her before so wondered where all those strange feelings she had been having were coming from.

While she was sure that she didn't know him personally, she at least knew who he was. "You're the new student Kira Hibiki correct?" she suddenly asked him seriously.

"Huh? Yes that's right… how did you know?" Kira asked surprised that she already knew who he was. He was sure that he had never met her before.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry. My name is Lacus Clyne. Yes, just like the original," she said with a laugh seeing his shocked expression when her name was mentioned.

She had the looks, she had the voice, and now she even had the same name. They were so alike that Kira was almost sure that she was probably Lacus Clyne reborn, either that or a clone. He wouldn't be surprised with either option.

"You know, if you stare so much, even I will get embarrassed," Lacus teased Kira with a small smile. "And no, I'm not some secret descendent of hers. We're from the same family but different branches," she explained since it was something that was asked of her a lot.

"I actually didn't think you were. I thought that you were probably her reincarnation or something like that," Kira replied honestly with a slight blush.

"Yes, I get that a lot too. Are you always so flirty with someone you first met though?" she asked since she couldn't help but think he looked so cute when he was embarrassed.

"No! That's not it!" Kira said with a blush before remembering his original question. "How did you know who I was exactly?" he asked her again.

"Oh yeah," Lacus said as if she had completely forgotten about it. "I was asked by the principal to show you around the school before taking you to the skill test. It's nice to meet you," Lacus said giving Kira the most beautiful smile that he had ever seen.

"So you're the one?" Kira asked in surprise. "I was just about to head back to my room to get ready," Kira said since he never expected to run into her so easily.

"Then that just makes it all the more convenient. Is there anything you actually need to pick up from your room?" Lacus asked looking really happy.

"No. Even if I did, I wouldn't know where to find anything at the moment," Kira said as he remembered the mess that he had left his room in. He dreaded going back and having to clean it up later.

"I guess it is understandable since you just moved in. If you'd like, I would be willing to help you sometime," Lacus offered with a gentle smile. A part of her just couldn't help it since she liked helping with domestic stuff like that.

"No, no, no. That isn't necessary I can handle it myself," Kira responded quickly since he didn't like the idea of anyone going through his stuff.

"Really? That's a shame," Lacus responded looking genuinely disappointed.

'I'm willing to bet she's the type who simply likes helping people,' Kira thought while also thinking about how she volunteered to show him around.

"It's fine. I got everything unpacked, it's just a mess," Kira said blushing a bit in embarrassment.

Lacus just released a sweet giggle. "Now then, since you seem to have been looking around, how much have you seen so far?" she questioned while trying to figure out how much she would be showing him.

"Not much. Just between the dorms and here. Most of it was done inside each of the building," Kira admitted while looking in the direction of the dorms.

"Ok, got it! That means I've got a lot to show you," Lacus said brightly making plans in her head on where to start.

'More work would normally annoy people, yet it makes her more excited,' Kira mused with a chuckle.

Without really thinking about it, Lacus's hand stretched out and grabbed ahold of Kira's hand.

A light blush appeared on Kira's face when he realized what she did. Sure he had experience with women but she was by far the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Lacus tried to move forward but was stopped when the unmoving Kira pulled her back. "Is something wrong?" she asked looking at him innocently.

"Y-your hand," Kira mentioned looking at their connected hands.

"Huh?" Lacus said before noticing what she had done. "Oh my," she said with a chuckle. She tried to let go but it only felt that she grabbed onto him tighter. Somehow, with a lot of effort, she managed to let go of his hand. She couldn't help but feel a slight fear by doing so though.

'She had soft hands… maybe I shouldn't have said anything,' Kira complained to himself with regret.

'Maybe I should ask her out sometime? I wonder how she would respond,' Kira contemplated since it had been a while since a woman had really got his heart racing like she had. Plus there was an odd familiarity with her though. Maybe it was just because he was a fan of the original.

"I'm sorry about that. I'm sure you probably have some girlfriend and she wouldn't appreciate that," Lacus said as she turned and started to walk while trying to get rid of all these odd feelings she had been having since they met.

After a second, Kira started to follow after her. "No, I used to but we broke up," Kira responded wanting to make sure that there weren't any misunderstandings.

"Is that so?" Lacus asked in a carefree way. "Well my fiancé probably wouldn't appreciate it either," she added as almost an afterthought.

'Yeah, I figured!' Kira said hanging his head in disappointment.

"Huh?" Lacus murmured when she noticed Kira was falling behind. "Is something wrong?" she asked when he caught up with her.

"No, it's nothing," Kira responded with a chuckle. "So where is the first place you will be taking me?" he asked and just let things flow from there.

* * *

"What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Andy asked as he passed through the door to Murrue's office.

"That's right," Murrue said as she went through a desk before pulling out a folder and putting it on her desk.

Andy stopped in front of the desk and picked up the folder. "What is this?" he questioned in confusion looking at the info.

"I want you to look into that and find any info about him as you can," Murrue said seriously.

"Is there some kind of threat?" Andy asked flipping through the pages. He had heard that there were groups planning something bad. He wondered if this had anything to do with it.

"At the moment, there doesn't seem to be any. He's assured me that there was nothing wrong but that actually makes me worry more," Murrue said having the same feelings as Andy.

"I'll take a look into it. I'm not sure if I'll be able to find anything if he's hiding something. Something is definitely there though," Andy said closing the folder and tucking it under his arm and started to leave.

"One more thing. He may have refused to give the info we wanted personally, but he said that if we still intended to search, that we should keep a low profile about it," Murrue said looking at some monitors to make sure that no one was listening in.

"So it's something he doesn't want others to know about more than us. 'To fool your enemies, you must first fool your friends.' I'm not sure if I feel relieved or more nervous about it," Andy said while Murrue nodded her head.

"I'll see what I can do then," Andy said before he turned and left the room.

* * *

Kira collapsed onto a seat and took a long drink. They had come across the cafeteria and stopped in at the end of her tour.

Lacus had moved rather quickly to show him as much as she could in the limited time that they had before his tests. He was exhausted after only 2 hours and they couldn't even finish the whole tour.

"Just how big is this place?" Kira asked with his head down. He had plenty of stamina but he still felt so worn out.

"It is really big. You probably won't step foot in certain areas though. Most of it is wide open fields for the mobile suit training," Lacus explained quickly while daintily sipping her own drink.

Kira stared at Lacus. He found her to be more fascinating than the school. She was a beauty in every sense of the word. Her looks were first rate, her personality was very kind and gentle, and she was also very helpful.

Kira sighed as he thought about how unlucky he was that she already had a fiancé.

"The colony itself is a reconstruction of a colony that had been destroyed during the first Bloody Valentine War. It seems it was a personal project by the then head representative of ORB Cagalli Yula Attha and Lacus Clyne herself," Lacus said as she sipped her drink while looking out the window.

"The school itself wasn't built until a few hundred years later. The Attha family oversaw its construction as well even though both of them had long since passed away," she continued to explain as she looked at a small mountain in the distance.

"Lacus!" a voice suddenly yelled out from behind Kira. Just from the sounds of it, Kira thought he had heard it before.

"Ah!" Lacus responded looking happily at the person who called out to her. "Athrun!" Lacus yelled waving at the man.

Kira tensed up because he remembered that name. When he looked, he saw that it was the same person he had that argument with earlier that day.

"You..." Athrun said recognizing Kira as well. The two just stared at each other for a moment before Athrun did something Kira didn't expect.

Athrun held out his hand towards Kira. "I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have gotten upset like that," he said calmly while waiting for Kira to shake his hand.

Kira merely stared at it for a second before he shook Athrun's hand. "It's fine, sorry as well," Kira said preferring not to be on anyone's bad side on his first day.

Looking between the two of them, Lacus tried to figure out what happened. "Ara? Did the two of you have an argument?" she asked curiously.

"We accidentally ran into each other. I was tired and upset and I ended up arguing with him," Athrun tried to explain to Lacus.

"Well that is not good. It's a good thing you apologized," Lacus admonished while looking between the 2 men.

"I realized that after I got a short nap. I hope there will be no hard feelings," Athrun said giving an apologetic bow to Kira.

"It's fine," Kira repeated and motioned for Athrun to stop bowing and have a seat with them.

"Thank you," Athrun said as he took a seat on the nice café style seats that they had out. "By the way, my name is Athrun Zala," he said since he had yet to properly introduce himself.

'Zala?' Kira thought in surprise since the name was well known in history books related to the Bloody Valentine wars.

"My name is Kira Hibiki. It's nice to meet you," Kira responded when the shock wore off.

Already Kira felt a little out of place next to these two. They came from two of the most distinguished families of the last 500 years and yet he was just from a normal family.

Even though he already had an idea, Kira felt that he had to ask, "How do the two of you know each other?"

"I mentioned to you earlier that I had a fiancé, didn't I?" Lacus mentioned while pointing at Athrun, "well this is him."

'I figured that would be the answer,' Kira thought feeling disappointed. He supposed he couldn't blame her. Athrun was clearly good looking and athletic. He also seemed to be brought up in a well off family.

"It was decided by our parents when we were young that we were going to get married to each other," Athrun said something rather surprising to Kira.

Even from his point of view, Kira couldn't help but think that they almost seemed like such a perfect couple. Were they simply meant to look that way by their families? Were they happy about that? Many questions filled his mind.

"People still do that kind of stuff?" Kira couldn't help but ask in surprise. "How do the two of you feel about it?"

"I'm fine with it. Athrun has always been such a good friend to me," Lacus said giving a smile towards Athrun.

Kira was sure though that he saw a look of disappointment on Athrun's face. 'Ouch. An engagement that's been friend zoned. That's gotta hurt,' Kira thought feeling bad for Athrun.

"Originally, the original Lacus Clyne was set to marry the Athrun Zala of that time. Our parents probably gave us these names hoping to follow through with it and maybe become as big as the originals," Athrun tried to explain why their names matched up to the past.

"If I remember correctly, her actions in the first Bloody Valentine War made her an enemy of ZAFT. As a result the original arrangement was nullified," Kira continued from his knowledge of history which he had a lot of.

"That's right," Athrun said impressed with Kira's knowledge of history. Most history books didn't even go that deep into detail on it.

"I'm descended from the original Athrun Zala. He eventually married someone else and had children of his own. I heard it almost didn't happen because Coordinators at the time had birthing issues but they apparently found a way to fix it eventually," Athrun tried to explain about his family tree.

"As I told you earlier, I'm actually descended from a cousin of the original Lacus Clyne," Lacus repeated what she had told him about earlier.

"Based upon history books, the original Lacus Clyne never married or had any children of her own," Kira decided to finish with what was the commonly accepted history of Lacus Clyne was.

"That's right. You really know your stuff Kira," Lacus said giving off a bright smile. "Wouldn't it be neat if she did though? I idolize her so it would be so neat to be able to meet those who inherited her blood," she continued dreamily.

Kira couldn't help the chuckle that escaped from his throat. "Other than speculation, there's never really been any proof of it," he put in. Something about it though never seemed right to him. He was never quite sure what it was though.

"How about you Kira? Do you have anyone famous in your family?" Lacus asked sweetly while staring at him curiously.

"I wouldn't know. My parents were killed when I was three. I don't know anything about my family because of that unfortunately," he responded while trying to put on a smile.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked," Lacus said while hanging her head. She felt bad about making him relive such painful memories.

"It's fine. I've gotten over it. It's not like you could've known," Kira said forcing out a small laugh.

Lacus looked like she didn't believe him but she didn't continue talking about the subject.

"So have you taken the tests yet?" Athrun asked trying to get away from the subject since it clearly made them both uncomfortable.

"Not yet. Lacus has been showing me around. We're taking a break now and then she is supposed to take me to the site of the tests," Kira explained and Athrun nodded his head.

"That's right. She did mention that," Athrun said offhandedly.

"Are you OK Athrun?" Lacus asked looking at her fiancé worriedly. She had noticed that recently he had been very distant and always seemed so tired.

"I told you before. I'm fine. I just haven't been sleeping very well recently," Athrun groaned while rubbing his head while a migraine was forming.

Lacus didn't say anything at first as she just stared at Athrun with her worried eyes. "I don't know what is going on but you really need to take it easy," she warned him sternly.

"I will," Athrun said as he stood up. "I need to get going. I'll talk to you later," he said as he leaned down and gave Lacus a short kiss on the cheek. He then turned and started to walk away.

"We had better get going too. We wouldn't want you being late for your exams," Lacus said as she stood up.

Kira followed suit and the two of them left the cafeteria and started to head in a direction that they hadn't gone before.

* * *

A man sat behind his desk as he looked at a video feed that he had managed to hack.

On the video it showed a man and a woman talking. One of them had brown hair and purple eyes while the other had pink hair and blue eyes.

The man paused the feed and looked at the two of them with a hint of interest in his eyes. One was the young man that he had raised from an infant while the other was the spitting image of the famous Lacus Clyne herself.

"A Clyne and a Yamato once again meet. There is a certain amount of irony to that," he said with a chuckle as he shut off the feed.

"Much like with the originals. Your meeting may just start a change within this world. The Clyne family holds most of the power in this current world even though Lacus Clyne herself gave up all her power when she felt the world was moving in the right direction again," he said opening a book that had a picture of Lacus Clyne dating back to CE 85. This was a mere month or 2 before she disappeared from public all together.

He chuckled as he pulled out another picture of two people. "Perhaps it is fated. After all, you may not know it but you are the last of a line born from the ultimate coordinator Kira Yamato and Lacus Clyne herself."


	2. Phase 2: The Cycle

Phase 2 – A New Start

"Good, you're here," the principal, Murrue Ramius, said when she spotted the two teenagers entering the large room.

The two teenagers approached her and came to a stop.

"Thank you for doing this for me Lacus. We've been very busy lately so it means a lot," Murrue gratefully thanked the pink haired woman.

"Think nothing of it. It was enjoyable," Lacus said before giving a slight bow and turning to leave.

Right as Lacus was about to exit through the door, she came to a stop.

"Is something wrong Miss Clyne?" Murrue asked when she noticed that the young woman was just standing there frozen.

Lacus didn't say anything but she did turn her head to look at the two of them. More particularly, she was looking right at Kira.

A part of her wanted to stay there with them. Yet while looking at Kira, another part of her ached and she felt lonely and scared.

"I-it's nothing. If you need anything Mr. Hibiki, just ask," she said before forcing the door open and she left as quickly as she could to escape the weird feeling that she had been having.

"That was odd," Murrue muttered keeping a close eye on Lacus until the door closed and she disappeared from view. The behavior that she had just witnessed was unlike anything she had ever seen from Lacus before.

Kira wasn't really sure what was going on but knew there were other things that they had to do. "I was supposed to take some tests correct?" he asked getting the principals attention.

"Oh yes. That's correct," Murrue said putting aside Lacus's strange behavior and turned her attention to the new student.

"This academy is used to train and prepare those who will lead this world forward. It's far from your normal high school," Murrue stated as she started walking towards another room and Kira followed after her.

"There are two major courses that students are generally divided between. The first is politics. Miss Clyne is enrolled in this. Her family has a very distinguished line that have helped guide this world since the time of the Bloody Valentine Wars," Murrue started a lengthy explanation as the two got onto an elevator and started to head to lower floors.

"As for you. Your course of study as an engineer will mostly be military training which is the other course," she mentioned as the elevator came to a stop and the two of them stepped out.

"We have plenty of cub courses of course but most of them are categorized between those two courses. Like with engineering. Of course not all of the classes are strictly about them. You will take normal classes as well like history, math, and other normal school classes," she continued as they entered a door where several others were waiting for them.

Inside the room there was a small machine. It was a simulation machine. Kira had experienced those plenty of times growing up.

"First we'll be testing your skills as a mobile suit pilot. Mr. la Flaga will be the one who will guide you through this," she mentioned as a man with short blonde hair stood up and approached the two of them.

"It's nice to meet you Mr. Hibiki. My name is Mu La Flaga," the man said as he shook Kira's hand.

"The test that we'll be doing is simple. You'll be doing a mobile suit training simulation against another of our students. We'll mostly just be measuring your reaction times and skills so don't worry about it too much. We don't expect too much from beginners anyways," he said with a smile.

"Ok," Kira muttered as he dreaded going into that machine.

Kira wasn't a half bad pilot. In fact, you could say that he was actually really good. His guardian had been training him since he was 5 years old. The problem was that he was told not to bring a lot of attention to himself. Doing good would probably do just that.

The door to the room opened again and 2 boys his age came walking into the room.

Kira vaguely remembered them being with Athrun during their argument earlier that day.

"Mr. Joule, Mr. Elsman. Glad you could make it," Mu said as he greeted the two boys.

The silver haired boy just looked at Kira and smirked.

Kira looked at the two and them and noticed that they kept looking at him and smirking. Something about the 2 of them was really pissing him off.

"Hey Dearka, did you do the thing we talked about earlier today?" Yzak asked in a whisper while leaning over towards his friend.

"Yeah. I know a girl in that department and she agreed very easily," Dearka whispered back thinking how fun it was to ask for that favor.

"Great. Let's show this newbie the kind of stuff he's getting himself into. This isn't the kind of place someone like him belongs," Yzak responded since to him only the elite should be let in.

"I bet you $10 that you can beat him in 2 minutes," Dearka offered as he sized up the new kid.

"I bet $20 that I can beat him in the first minute," Yzak responded with a smug smirk knowing that he could easily pull it off.

"Deal!" Dearka agreed and the two of them sealed the deal with a hand shake.

"It's not necessary for you to go full strength Mr. Joule. We're just trying to get accurate readings," Mu said as Yzak was climbing into the machine.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Yzak responded though it was clear that he wasn't going to try.

'Why'd I get stuck with him?' Mu thought since Yzak was the type of person that was difficult for most of the teachers to deal with.

"The specs you will be using are the same on both sides. Victory or not doesn't really matter for today," Mu said as he walked over to a computer that an assistant of his was waiting at.

Kira and Yzak crawled into the machine placed before them.

"Sir, if you don't mind me asking, why aren't we just using the AI as his opponent like we normally do?" his assistant ask as he started booting up the machine.

"Because there's no way that he is a rookie with mobile suits," Mu simply responded with a smirk.

Kira looked over the controls before him. "Pretty basic set up," he mumbled to himself as he opened up the OS and had a look at the exact specs.

"What the heck!" Kira yelled in surprise when he noticed that the OS was anything but basic, it was a complete mess.

'Teacher's wouldn't pull something like this. Has to have been the work of my opponent. I guess I can consider this a blessing though,' he thought as he closed the system and decided to just work with what he had.

'I thought that this test was supposed to be against a computer though. Could that man suspect something?' Kira thought with worry as he cringed at the thought. He was supposed to keep a low profile but it was annoying that other already had suspicions about him.

The screens of the machine lit up to show a wide expanse of plains.

Across from Kira, there was a machine that Kira saw from textbooks. It was a model of mobile suit that was used during the first bloody valentine war.

'ZGMF-1017 GINN. It was the first humanoid mobile suit to be introduced during the Bloody Valentine War. Talk about the bare minimum of mobile suits to use,' he thought with a slight chuckle as he thought back to what armaments the machine had.

The screen quickly signaled the start of the match.

'The specs of the machine are going to be much lower thanks to what those guys did. This is just a test. Why do they want to beat a supposed newbie so bad?' Kira thought as he grasped the controls and watched as the other machine charged at him.

The machine moved quickly towards him with its sword raised.

Kira attempted to move but the machine moved far slower than he expected. It was kind of akin to a video game lagging on you.

Without being able to move, one of the arms to his mobile suit was hacked off by the sword.

'It would've been all too easy for him to finish me with that strike if he had wanted to. He's just toying with me,' he thought calmly as he assessed his option.

'Wait! I have an idea,' Kira thought with a grin as he opened up the OS.

Kira figured that if he wanted to hide his piloting skills that he'd just have to win with his engineering skills.

'Since the OS used was the basic back then, there is plenty of room for improvements. The limited battery power of the GINN due to the inability to use nuclear power at the time needs to be taken into account. I can easily increase the efficiency of the system and the weapons and use that to upgrade the power and speed of the mobile suit,' he thought as he brought up the screen and opened up the OS. He fingers danced across the keyboard before him.

"What the heck?!" Mu's assistant complained as he watched the screen before him.

"What's wrong?" Mu asked as he approached and looked at the screen. His eyes widened as he saw the very system being rewritten before his eyes. "He's rewriting the system even in the heat of battle?" he spoke in a quiet voice.

'He was said to be a prodigy with computers. I guess his recommendation for that course wasn't a fluke,' he thought as he witnessed the specs of the machine raise above what had been considered standard for the tests.

"Let's finish this!" Yzak yelled in delight as he swung his sword for the kill only for him to be dodged by a hair's breadth.

"No matter! While he's off guards…" he said before his screens went blank with the word 'You Lose' sprawled out across the screen.

"What the hell?! What happened?!" he yelled as he banged on the screen.

"Perhaps I overdid it. I wanted a draw," Kira mumbled as he stepped out of the machine. His own reflexes got the best of him after he dodged the attack and he went for the kill right afterwards.

Mu was speechless as he looked at the boy before him. He won the battle simply with his programming skills. He upgraded the OS of the machine almost to perfection. There was nothing about it that wasn't possible with the real thing. But to do that so swiftly in the middle of battle was something else entirely. 'I feel like I heard about something like that somewhere before. But I don't remember where,' he thought while wracking his brain to try and remember.

While his piloting skills were still unknown. The reflexes he showed by the minimum dodge and swift kill made him feel like there was something there.

"That… will be all. Thanks for your time," Mu muttered wearily as he kept his eyes on Kira and tried to get a sense of what was there.

'I feel like… I brought more attention to myself than if I was just to beat him normally. Perhaps I could've just passed that off as an accident easier,' Kira thought looking at the almost piercing eyes of his teacher.

"What the hell was that Yzak?" Dearka asked with confusion at what he just saw. From what he saw, even the teachers were having some trouble comprehending it.

"A Fluke! Nothing more!" Yzak yelled as he stormed past Dearka and left the room.

'The system was changed though. Was he able to fix it that quickly?' Dearka asked as he too looked at Kira.

He stared at Kira for a few moments before he turned and followed his friend. 'The real question is… who won the bet?'

* * *

The sun had long since set by the time Kira got out from all the skill tests.

'He's probably not going to be too happy with me,' Kira thought since he felt that some went better than they should have.

The gun test was easy enough to do. He could shoot but hated the weapon. It was easy enough to miss several times and get an ordinary score.

The piloting test was a bigger issue though. He could tell that word had gone around to most of the teachers. He knew that it was bound to reach the students as well.

In fact he had already gotten a message from his guardian to contact him as soon as possible. 'How does he hear these things so quickly?' Kira asked himself bewildered.

To his surprise, just outside the doors sitting on a bench was the same pink haired girl from earlier.

"Were you waiting for me?" Kira asked sneaking up on the young woman.

Lacus jumped at his sudden appearance.

"Don't scare me!" Lacus yelled holding her chest over her heart.

"Sorry about that," Kira said but his laugh easily told her that he would probably do it again if given the chance.

Lacus just glared at Kira before sighing and giving up.

"No I wasn't waiting for you. I was waiting on Athrun. He was supposed to meet me here so we could have dinner together," she responded to his original question once her heart had settled down.

"We were supposed to meet an hour ago though," she said looking at her watch with a look of annoyance.

'I take it that it's been happening a lot lately,' Kira thought while wondering just how Athrun could keep a girl like her waiting like that.

"Well then do you mind if I join you? I just finished up the tests and I wouldn't mind some company since I don't know anyone else here yet," Kira said giving her a smile.

"S-sorry. I was planning to head back to my room right before you showed up," Lacus found excuses flying from her mouth.

"I see," Kira replied feeling a bit disappointed. "I'll walk you back if it is alright," Kira requested feeling the urge to spend more time with her.

Lacus tried to turn him down but ended up nodding her head instead.

The two of them walked towards her room but no words were spoken between them.

"Do I… make you feel uncomfortable?" Kira hesitantly asked breaking the silence that had surrounded them for the past few minutes.

"That's not…" Lacus started to say but was unable to finish.

She wasn't sure what it was. She could tell that Kira was a very kind person. She found him interesting and she did find it enjoyable to talk to him earlier. However something about him terrified her.

"It's fine. We just met and you don't know me very well. It's understandable," Kira said putting on a smile.

He knew she was taken by another but something inside Kira drove him to talk to her. He had no intention of taking her from Athrun though. He just really wanted to just keep talking to her and learn more about her.

Once again silence fell between the two of them. This lasted until they were in front of her dorm.

This place seemed to be much more luxurious than the place Kira was staying at. That was saying a lot since he thought the room he got was nice as well.

'I can easily imagine a bunch of rich people having it built for them,' Kira thought with a chuckle.

"Yes it's a bit much," Lacus said when she noticed him staring at the place, "It was built just last year. I heard it was because some super rich family wanted their child to only live in luxury. Honestly it's a bit TOO much for my tastes," she said feeling this place was unfair to the rest of the students. Her own family made her move in from the regular dorms as well.

"I can tell," was all Kira found he could respond. The place kind of reminded him of someone he used to know.

"Well thank you for walking me here," Lacus said quietly. She felt it really was unnecessary for him to walk her here but she thanked him anyways.

"No problem. I guess I'll see you around," Kira replied giving her a smile before he turned around and started to walk away.

Lacus just stood there and watched him for a few moments. She was conflicted with Kira. She wanted to reach out for him and yet another part of her told her to keep her distance.

Forcing down those emotions, Lacus turned and walked into the building. Yet that same pain she felt before came back. It was like someone was trying to grab her still beating heart out of her chest.

Kira stopped after a few moments. He turned around and just caught a slight glimpse of Lacus before the doors closed.

Kira gave a deep sigh wondering what it was about her that fascinated him so much.

Kira turned back around and started heading to his own dorm.

* * *

"Do you even remember what I told you before you left Kira?" the man on the screen before the violet eyed boy berated.

Kira just rolled his eyes at this and gave a simple, "yeah," to the man before him.

"I told you many times. You need to remain low key. That doesn't just include your piloting skills," the man continued to berate with a stern look on his face.

"You tell me every time and yet you continue to fail to tell me why," Kira shot back like it was the most natural thing.

"Cheeky little…" the man growled while rubbing the bridge of his nose. "That is not up for discussion right now. I can see that you're still too immature to handle the truth," he growled out as his blue eyes stared into Kira's.

"The truth? You mean like that my parents were the targets instead of just being caught up in a random attack?" Kira questioned and watched with great satisfaction as the man who raised him, being that stoic that he is, became speechless.

"How did you…" the man started but found that he couldn't finish.

"I realized that years ago. Keeping secrets can sometimes have the opposite effect of making others realize things," Kira responded with eyes that gleamed with seriousness.

He'd realized when he was ten. Because his guardian had kept refusing to tell Kira about his family, Kira came to realize that his family was likely the target of the attack. He'd never brought it up before now because he was afraid of bringing it up in person.

"Yet that doesn't explain why it happened. I know that you know it perfectly well," Kira continued as his hands clenched into fists from anger at the truth he had long known about.

"And what will you do with that truth Kira?" he shot back with eyes more serious than Kira had ever seen. Kira's piercing eyes shot back at him as well.

"I see. I've seen eyes like that before Kira. They're the eyes of one smitten with a desire for revenge. I've seen far too many die because of something like that," he said with a sad sigh for the youngster before him.

"So what if I want revenge?! They killed my parents and I want to know why! I want to know why they had to die! I want to know why it was that I lived!" Kira screamed out finally releasing the built up frustration that he had for all these years.

"And what will you do when you find the ones responsible Kira? Will you kill them?" his guardians calmly spoke back despite Kira's anger.

"What if I do?! What concern is it to you?!" Kira angrily struck back.

Despite his anger, Kira calmed down when he saw the look of sadness that the man before him was giving. It was a look that Kira never saw in his life.

"So you kill them. But what of their family? They will instead come to hate you and want you dead as well. It's just an endless cycle that just repeats over and over…" he responded before choking up a little which Kira was even more surprised to see.

Kira felt himself calm down though it didn't do too much to abate the anger he held inside.

"You were entrusted to me by a woman who had but a few moments left to live. I've been raising you so that you won't die. Not so that you will just end up fighting," he said regaining himself a bit.

"Then what do you expect of me? I can't simply let them get away with what they did. I'm sure I wasn't the only one affected by it," Kira said while trying to keep his anger down.

"You weren't," the man replied so sadly and silently that Kira was unable to hear it even with his excellent hearing.

"Please Kira. Just don't do anything rash while you are there. There are other things you may find instead of hatred and vengeance. Until that day comes, I won't tell you anything," he said sternly before the transmission was cut.

Kira seethed for several minutes before he finally cooled down and sat on his bed.

Falling back, Kira stared at the ceiling for a while before deciding to just go to bed since the fatigue from his trip and the entire day caught up with him.

* * *

Collapsing back in his seat, he stared at the screen his young ward was on moments ago.

"Who am I kidding? This fight is in his blood. They will always keep hunting and fighting each other until one side is no more," he murmured sadly feeling like he failed Kira.

Kira was very honest and kind, much like his ancestor. He raised him hoping to end the cycle of hatred that enshrouded his family.

Yet in reality Kira seemed to have already fallen victim to it; this endless cycle of hatred.

"I may not be able to keep him from fighting but I do want to make sure that he lives," he whispered to no one while taking a bottle of aspirin out of a drawer.

Replacing the aspirin, he instead pulled out the picture that was dated over 500 years ago. "They are so much alike their predecessors. Perhaps they're even the two of them reborn. I pray that is the case because that may be what it takes to stop this endless cycle of hatred."


	3. Phase 3: Conflicted

Phase 3: Conflicted

A week had passed since Kira first arrived. It was the day that classes finally started for the year and Kira was putting on his new uniform.

There was something about the uniforms that made Kira feel nostalgic. As if he had worn them before.

From what he understood, the men's uniforms were based on the old military uniforms of the nation of ORB that were used during the Bloody Valentine Wars.

The stripes that used to indicate the ranks of their military were no longer on it. One the upper arms of the uniform held the old and outdated symbol of ORB which was now the symbol for the school.

The tips on the lapel on the jacket held different colors that changed depending on what year you were in the school. There was black for first years, blue for second years, yellow for third years, and red for fourth years. Kira's held the yellow mark indicating he was a third year.

The jackets were required to be worn even during hot days as part of the school dress code. Luckily they were made of a special material that regulated the temperature so that even under the scorching sun they still felt cool.

He hadn't heard too much about the female uniforms other than they were quite beautiful looking.

A knock on the door distracted him from the mirror while he was trying to straighten out his uniform.

"It's open," he called out and the door opened to reveal a certain pink haired girl. Kira was surprised to see her there but was dumbstruck when he saw her in her uniform.

Kira realized right then that the rumors were true. He didn't notice it the other day because no one was dressed in their uniforms yet since the year hadn't started yet.

The uniforms that the women wore seemed almost more like a dress. It had a skirt that fell down to just below the knees. A pair of fashionable looking boots was on her feet. The dress was collared at the top.

The jacket was very similar but a little smaller with a smaller lapel but it still had the color coding for year on it. It also had the symbol on both arms.

Kira heard that originally they had similar uniforms as the boys but with normal skirts when the school first opened. Apparently though, the girls wanted something a little more fashionable since they weren't actually in the military and it was eventually changed to what it is today. Nobody seemed to have any real complaints about it though.

Pulling himself together, Kira responded. "L-Lacus… what are you doing here?" he questioned since she was supposed to live in a different dorm.

Lacus found herself staring at Kira in his uniform for a few seconds longer than she should have. What she was seeing was like something out a memory. However she was sure that she had never met Kira before the other day.

Yet again Lacus felt that tight clenching of her heart. 'Why? Why does it feel like this whenever I see him?' she asked herself before doing everything she could to keep herself composed.

Lacus stretched out a hand holding an envelope. "Miss Murrue was busy so she asked me to deliver your schedule," she quickly explained.

"Thank you for bringing it," Kira responded with a smile as his hand reached out and grabbed it.

Kira opened the envelope and stared at the classes he was given. 'So much for not standing out,' he thought as his head fell forward.

"What's wrong? Didn't do as good as you expected?" Lacus asked peaking over his shoulder and reading the schedule.

Her eyes widened when she saw that he was in most of the higher level classes for their grade. "Wow, that's amazing," she exclaimed in surprise.

"You seem to be in a lot of classes with Athrun with the exception of your engineering courses. You even have several regular classes with me," she explained feeling strangely happy despite that painful feeling she kept getting every time she saw Kira.

"I don't understand why I'm in a higher piloting course. I only did well because I rewrote the system," Kira said since he tried his best not to show anything.

"Mr. La Flaga is a good judge of character. He probably saw something in you that you have yet to notice," Lacus replied offhandedly while continuing to look at the paper.

'Or he realized that I wasn't really even trying,' Kira thought in annoyance.

"Not to mention that it takes a completely different kind of skill to rewrite something like that in the middle of a battle," Lacus continued as she stepped away from Kira.

'Oh yeah… I failed to think about that,' Kira thought finding that he could only internally laugh. His attempt to not show his skill only made him more suspicious.

"Well at least it proves to the big headed ones that your recommendation into this school wasn't a fluke," Lacus said looking on the bright side of things.

A chuckle escaped from Kira's throat at Lacus's description of "Big headed ones".

Just then Kira couldn't help but noticed what else Lacus was wearing. It was something that really peaked his interests.

While her hair was down in the style she wore when he first saw her a week ago; she was now wearing an accessory that looked very familiar.

Lacus noticed where Kira was staring and smiled. "You like it? My mom had it specially made for me on my fourth birthday. She was a big fan. Part of the reason she named me after her. It's just a copy but it's special to me," Lacus explain fingering the double crescent moon headpiece.

Kira noticed a saddened dip in her voice. He didn't need to ask to know that her mother was probably dead as well. He knew the feeling she was having all too well.

'Why do I feel like I've seen it before? Not in pictures or today. Like I saw it in person many years ago,' Kira thought as he tried to delve into his memories but failed to pick anything up which was weird since he always had such good memory.

"She died in an accident a few weeks after giving it to me," Lacus suddenly revealed with her back to him as if recognizing what Kira was thinking.

"Why would you…" Kira asked unsure why she just suddenly decided to tell him about this.

"Because you told me about your parents. Now we're even," Lacus said turning back towards him with a quick smile before she walked towards the door.

"By the way," Lacus started as she stopped in the door way, "the uniform looks good on you," she said with a wink before she truly exited the room.

Kira chuckled as he watched her leave. "Lacus Clyne, what an interesting person," he muttered as he grabbed his supplies and schedule. He too then left the room.

* * *

"Lacus!" a blue haired, green eyed boy yelled out when he spotted his fiancée while he was heading to class.

The young pink haired woman didn't respond and just kept walking even seeming to speed up a little bit.

"Lacus!" he called out again almost right next to her but she continued to walk without responding.

It was like he didn't even exist at that moment. He'd been seeing this a lot recently as a result of some work he'd been doing.

"Look I'm sorry I missed another date," Athrun relented when he knew she wasn't going to respond.

"That was the third time this week Athrun and like the tenth time in the last month," Lacus finally responded in an eerily calm voice.

Athrun couldn't help but shutter. He'd rather her just yell at him than to speak to him in such a calm voice even though she was really angry.

"I'm sorry there's nothing I could do. My dad's been having me do a lot of work for him lately and it's just taken up a lot of my time," Athrun tried to reason even though he knew that it really wasn't that great a reason.

"Then you need to make some time Athrun. You asked me on most of those to make up for it and then never show up. Several times without even a call. We may have been engaged by our parents, but that doesn't mean you can take it so lightly Athrun," Lacus complained before she turned from him and went off on her own.

Athrun came to a stop as he watched her walk off. He didn't need to be told that to know it was true.

The marriage may have been arranged but he had no problems with it. He'd always liked Lacus and yet she always seemed so distant about it. Sometimes it seemed more like she was trying to convince herself that it was fine. Sometimes even as if she was waiting for someone else.

Athrun didn't hold it against her. There were times even he questioned if this was right for them.

Yet now his father had him running errand after errand for him effectively taking away a lot of the time he could possibly have had to change her mind.

In the last week though, he had noticed a kind of change. Impatience seems to have overcome her. Her mind seemed to be wandering elsewhere sometimes when he was with her.

More than once the new kid had come up in her words as well. Athrun wasn't sure what to think of it yet but he felt worried.

'If I don't step it up, I could possibly lose her. Yet I can't just say no to my dad when he needs so much help,' Athrun thought to himself not sure what he could do to satisfy both of them.

The bell ringing caught his attention and he ran towards his class.

* * *

Thanks to the tour that Lacus gave him when he first got to the school, Kira had no problems finding his classes.

"My name is Kira Hibiki," Kira started as introductions were being done. "I just transferred here from Copernicus City. I enrolled in the engineering program because I've always been good at it and hoped to become better," he stated when people were giving him expectant eyes as if urging him to say more.

Kira witnessed mixed reactions around the room. Many girls were whispering to each other excitedly. Many of the guys were whispering to some friends while giving him some suspicious looks.

'I guess rumors of what I did has already gotten around. Never underestimate high school students,' he thought with a mental sigh.

Looking around, Kira was kind of saddened to see that Lacus wasn't in the same class. It was just homeroom though so he wasn't too upset.

He also noticed that there was a silvered haired boy glaring complete daggers at him while his blonde haired friend was trying his best to not laugh at his friend's displeasure.

'I can already tell this is going to be fun,' Kira thought sarcastically. He could tell that boy wasn't going to be letting go of it anytime soon.

Kira also recognized Athrun sitting in the far back and he seemed to not be too interested in what was going on. His mind was clearly elsewhere.

"Thanks you Kira. If you could take that empty seat in the back, we'll get started," the teacher said pointing to a seat next to Athrun.

Many girls sighed in disappointment since many were hoping they would eventually be moved into that seat.

"Hi there. We met last week remember?" Kira said to Athrun once he got to his seat. He was surprised that he was sitting next to him.

"Yes I remember," Athrun said giving Kira a weak smile. "Have you had any trouble getting accustomed to here?" Athrun asked politely.

"Not at all. Lacus showed me around this place very well. She's also been very helpful whenever I needed it," Kira explained showing his gratitude towards Athrun's fiancée.

"I'm glad. She's sometimes too eager to help people but I guess that's one of her good points," Athrun said with a chuckle though Kira heard hollowness to it.

'I wonder if something happened,' Kira thought to himself as he pulled out his chair to his rather fancy desk and took a seat.

"My name is Andrew Waltfeld," the teacher spoke to his students many who whispered about the name since it was one who was known for his closeness to Lacus Clyne.

"I will be in charge of your homeroom and one of the teachers that will be instructing you on your piloting training alongside Mu La Flaga for this year," Andy continued while handing out a manual for them to look over. "You went over mostly theories last year with some simulation training but you'll be working with the real thing this year. I must stress that while there haven't been any wars in over 500 years and the fact that mobile suits are primarily for defense or building, the fact is that they are still dangerous weapons. We will have no shenanigans or you will find yourself out faster than the Freedom could chop up a mobile suit," he stressed which earned a chuckle for his comparison.

"Due to restrictions instated after the second Bloody Valentine War, many of you may never see the inside of a mobile suit after you leave but we are required to make sure that you understand their workings in the case of an emergency," Andy continued as he paced before them.

"To recap from last year; what is the purpose of the school Mr. Amalfi?" Andy asked as he pointed to the young green haired boy.

"The purpose of the school is to better improve the relations of those from different nations." Nicol said calmly and with sureness.

"Correct. The school was first opened in 274 CE on the 200th anniversary of the end of the war. However it was originally planned up by Lacus Clyne prior to her untimely disappearance shortly after the completion of this colony. The plans were scrapped until the nation of Orb found and released them hundreds of years later. It was built in memory of her and those who fought for the sake of peace rather than victory and was named after one of the ships that lead the resistance," Andy stated like he had said it many times before.

"Why did she disappear? Your family was close to her so surely you must know," a student piped up making many look at him.

Andy stared at the student for several seconds before he finally replied. "Unfortunately I don't. Whether my family knew at one point in time or not, I don't know. I will just say that so the question won't be asked again," he explained though Kira noticed it sounded scripted and was also curious about the pause he had when the question was asked.

This was a question that had been asked for hundreds of years. For some reason, Kira always felt so interested when he heard it asked. It was a strange feeling for him.

Another hand was raised but Andy cut it off. "I also don't know who the pilot of the Freedom was," he stated quickly and the hand sheepishly went down. "I get these questions every year guys. If I knew I would've said something by now," he said with a sigh hoping no other questions of the kind popped up.

"The Freedom was a stolen mobile suit so ZAFT had no information on the pilot despite creating the suit. So there was no registered information on the pilot when compared to Athrun Zala pilot of its twin mobile suit the Justice," he continued just to be clear to them.

"The Strike Freedom and the Infinite Justice also disappeared with Lacus Clyne. They were supposed to be destroyed after the wars but many believe and it is commonly accepted that she actually had them hidden instead in case of an emergency and so they wouldn't be abused by anyone for power. To this day neither has been seen nor found since the end of the war," he said stating the next question that he knew was going to come.

"He's obviously been asked those questions one too many times," Kira overheard Yzak whisper to his blond haired friend with a chuckle.

Kira was pretty sure that he was lying about something. He'd always been pretty good at catching lies. It was like he had a sixth sense for them.

"I heard that Lacus Clyne was lovers with the pilot of the Freedom and intentionally hid any data about him and he was the reason she left politics," a girl in the class said dreamily.

"We're dealing with facts rather than romantic notions," Andy said shaking his head with a chuckle. "Believe me when I say that experts have looked into that one for hundreds of years with nothing to suggest it even popping up. Now let's get back to the topic at hand," he responded while trying to get the chatting class under control.

"Mobile suits were first introduced during the first Bloody Valentine War. ZAFT introduced them in their fight against the Earth Alliance. This gave them a superior advantage for the first portions of the war while the EA was dealing with crippling energy issues and using the inferior mobile armors," Andy said clicking a switch in his hand which turned on a projector.

"Certain branches of the nation of ORB secretly cooperated with the EA to create a new type of mobile suit. These were known as the G-machines. For you engineering specialists it used a special operating system. General Unilateral Neuro-Link Dispersive Autonomic Maneuver," Andy stated as the operating system was displayed.

"Gundam," Kira accidentally spoke out loud. The name of it just rolled off his tongue almost as if he was used to using it.

Most of the class turned to look at Kira since he said it a little louder than he meant to.

Andy actually seemed a little shocked to hear that specific word. "That was never an official word for it but it was stated that Lacus Clyne once used that word to call them," he said pulling himself together.

"Anyways these mobile suits were considered superior to the mobile suits used by ZAFT. They featured a special feature called Phase Shift which used electricity to nullify physical attacks. This made them extremely effective for a time where all weaponry were still physical bullets and swords. Beam weaponry had yet to truly be used yet so they were a game changer on the battle field," he explained showing images of the original five.

"The Strike, the Aegis, the Dual, the Buster, and the Blitz were the original five prototypes. However four of those five was stolen before they could be rolled out by the EA leaving only the Strike still in their hands. By the end of the war only two of them remained. The Blitz being destroyed by the Strike and the Strike and Aegis destroyed each other when the Aegis self-destructed. The remaining two became obsolete with mobile suit development after that war," Andy went into a long explanation of the two wars and mobile suit development for the first class.

"Due to a limit placed on the development of mobile suits since that time, no significant improvements have been made to mobile suits in hopes of those wars never being repeated. The Strike Freedom and the Infinite Justice are still to this day considered to be epitome of mobile suit development," he said as the bell rung.

The class packed up as they prepared to leave for their next class. Kira was in a hurry since he still needed to locate his next class.

"I hope we don't have to go over all this again. I just want to get into an actual mobile suit," Yzak said as him and Dearka headed for the door.

Kira quickly left the room so that he wouldn't be late for his next class.

* * *

The irony wasn't lost on Lacus as she sat immediately behind Kira during a basic history class.

'It hurts to look at him and yet I'll be staring at his back for the rest of the years. Yet I feel happy. I just don't understand it,' she thought barely paying attention to the teacher. She found that she could only keep staring at Kira.

When she first saw Kira while she was singing on that stage, she was surprised. The tears so easily but she felt happy even as her heart clenched so tightly in her chest.

'Is it the feeling of seeing someone wanted to meet after so long? Like meeting someone you thought that you would never see again?' she questioned herself before thinking that it was impossible since she had never met Kira before.

Her hands struggled as she felt tempted to reach out and grab a hold of Kira. Yet her heart felt scared. Like pain would only come from spending time with Kira.

'What am I thinking about? I have Athrun. It's decided that we will be married. Nothing can change that at this point. Once we graduate we'll marry and that will be that. We'll have children as well. There isn't any room for Kira,' she thought feeling a headache coming on.

And yet Lacus still yearned to reach her hand out and take a hold of Kira and never let him go.

Every night for the past week she found she could only think of Kira when she was alone. 'This is ridiculous! I don't even know Kira!' she chastised herself.

'Love at first sight? Maybe it' a love from a past life,' her brain seemed to taunt her.

'NO! NO! NO!' she screamed in her head in a way that even those around her noticed how frustrated she was.

"Is there something wrong Miss Clyne?" the teacher asked after he stopped talking.

"Uh…" Lacus stated with a bright red blush since people noticed her acting strange. "No sorry," she continued as she tried her best to calm down her heart.

The teachers looked at her curiously for a few seconds before he started up discussing what they would go over in the class.

Lacus's eyes unconsciously shifted towards Kira's back.

Kira was staring forward so she couldn't see his face and yet Lacus noticed the slight shaking of his body and what was undoubtedly a chuckle escape from his mouth.

'You're the cause of my embarrassment and you have the nerve to laugh?!' she angrily screamed in his mind.

Of course there was no way that Kira could've known what was going through her mind before then. To him, he just couldn't help but think about how cute she looked when that happened.

* * *

Kira rubbed the bridge of his nose as he read through articles on the computer about the events that happened fourteen years ago using one of the schools computers in the school's library. He had been doing it for several weeks since he got there but nothing had been coming up.

Kira was also eager to come here because he felt that he would be able to have access to more information on the events that transpired. Yet even after several weeks of research he had found nothing that he didn't already know.

The act was performed really early in the morning. Not just his parents but hundreds of others were affected by it when many bombs went off completely destroying a large area of a city.

It was such a major event but the government had done a hasty investigation into it that even Kira felt was a rather flawed but not much was really done about it.

Besides his guardian's secrecy, something that tipped off Kira to who the real targets of the attack were was that while every victim of the attack was listed with the exception of his family.

'I don't have the proof of it yet but this likely means that the one responsible holds a lot of power. It's like he erased their existence,' Kira thought as his eyes flew over the text in front of him hoping for at least something new.

Giving up on this attempt, Kira erased his browsing history and shut down the computer.

'There has to be something here. The school is completely independent governmental affairs. They wouldn't be able to tamper with the databases here,' Kira thought as he stood up and made his way out of the building.

It was dark outside when Kira stepped out the doors. While there were many still in the library, the outside was almost deserted.

Kira started walking and turned a corner of the library.

He took a few steps before coming to a stop. There was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind that made him look upwards.

To his surprise there was a masked man hanging from a rope which extended up to the fifth floor of the library.

"Who are you?!" Kira yelled out startling the man who didn't think anyone would come that way.

"Damn!" the person growled as he dropped down the rest of the way and right towards Kira.

Kira swiftly dodged the man with ease and the two of them stared at one another for a few seconds when the man regained himself.

Without notice the guy attempted to sweep his leg under Kira's feet to knock him down. Kira was quick to react again and jumped out of his sweeping range.

Before the man could react Kira kicked at the man. He put up his arm to try and block it and Kira's foot collided with it.

The man blocked the kick but fell over in surprise.

Kira approached the man to find out who he was when the man suddenly threw dirt at his face.

"Shit!" Kira cursed as he tried to quickly remove the dirt from his eyes.

Kira did his best to follow just be listen and trying to sense his opponent like how he was taught by his guardian but the guy was quick. By the time Kira had his eyesight back properly the guy had already disappeared.

"What was that about?" Kira complained as he went to the bathroom to try and use water to get the rest of the dirt out of his eyes.

When he finished that he went back to the library where he encountered the guy.

Kira looked up at the window where the guy had come out of.

'Isn't that the restricted area?' Kira asked himself as he remembered the layout of the library.

The restricted area had a lot of materials that were forbidden even to most of the older students. It was also a place of key interest to Kira for his research.

Most of the files that were there were highly confidential. Kira knew that the place likely held all the information he needed but there was no way to access it besides doing what that guy did.

"Kira?" a voice spoke out behind him.

Kira turned and was surprised when he saw Lacus. "Oh Lacus. Were you studying in the library too?" he asked trying to play it cool as he moved back around the corner and away from where he fought the man.

"Yes," Lacus spoke quietly while giving Kira a smile. "Are you ok? You seem to have dirt all over you," Lacus said pointing at his clothes which had leftovers from the attack.

"Yeah I'm fine. I just tripped," Kira lied since he worried that if the news of a break in got out that it would negate any chances he might have for seeing those files in the future.

"I see. You should be careful," Lacus said giving him a smile.

"Thanks," Kira replied thinking that her smile was the most beautiful that he had ever seen.

"Oh Athrun!" Lacus yelled out to the man that was approaching them. "Sorry I have to go. I was supposed to meet up with Athrun," Lacus said before turning and running towards her fiancé.

Kira watched her run away and sighed while wondering why he was so unlucky.

'What exactly was that guy after up there?' Kira asked himself before he started to head back to his dorm.

* * *

"So what were you talking to Kira about?" Athrun asked Lacus with unease while also trying his best to hide the jealousy he was feeling.

It was perfectly clear to him just how interested in the new guy Lacus was and this bugged him. She was the girl he was going to eventually marry and start a life with but he interest was elsewhere.

"Nothing much. We just happened to run into each other outside the library," Lacus honestly responded as she took Athrun's arm like what was expected of her.

Athrun hissed slightly as he pulled his arm away.

"Are you ok Athrun?" Lacus asked worriedly as she watched him rub his arm.

"I'm fine… I just fell and landed on my arm," Athrun responded quickly while letting go of his arm like it was nothing.

"Are you sure that you don't need to go the infirmary?" Lacus said but Athrun just ignored her suggestion. "Well fine! Geez. You and Kira seem like such klutz today," she said walking ahead of him.

Athrun sighed as he muttered out a quiet, "Sorry."

Athrun caught up with Lacus but heard her singly quietly under her breath.

"In this quiet night I am waiting for you forgetting the past and dreaming of you," she sang the first verse of one of her predecessor's most famous songs.

'That song again,' he thought since he found her singing it under her breath a lot lately.

"Time passes by and memories fade but time can't erase the love that we've made," she continued to sing under her breath.

While Athrun knew Lacus was fond of her predecessor's song, he found her almost constantly singing that song in specific for the past few weeks.

"You've been singing that a lot recently. Is there any specific reason?" he finally asked her since it was starting to get on his nerves for reasons he didn't know.

"Sorry about that. I've just felt like singing that one a lot," Lacus said while trying to laugh it off.

Honestly though, she herself wasn't sure why she couldn't stop thinking about it. It was such a sad song to her but it was a song that her heart felt like singing.

"And the stars in the sky that I wish upon can't bring you back to my side. Though you're not here with me. I dream of the day we'll meet again," she continued on despite Athrun's obvious annoyance as the two walked on.

* * *

for those of you who are curious about what the women's uniforms look like, i got the idea from the uniforms the women where in the light novel Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei. I find those uniforms to be very beautiful. Just imagine them more in ORB design and colors with the veil that comes off the coat.


End file.
